Guam - It was last week we brought you the story on Bucks for Busses, a bill introduced by Senator Chris Duenas that if enacted into law would cut your senators salaries and give the savings to the agency that transports 39,000 of the island's school children. The first day of classes for the island's 40 public schools is slated for August 20, but senators won't be meeting for regular session until August 27. This worries the senator.

It was last week he introduced Bill 491, or "Bucks for Busses", which would provide financial relief to the Department of Public Works by cutting legislators' salaries. With only three weeks until the start of classes and the need to relieve DPW's bus fleet, especially with double-session at George Washington High School, Duenas requested that Speaker Judi Won Pat waive the need for a public hearing. His request, however, was denied.  

"I just think her intent at this point is to have the public hearing, but I think that in light of the fact that we need this for the school year to start," he said. "I understand the public input is necessary and a great thing to do in this process, however I think when an emergency exists, I think the public would forgive us, and from what I've been hearing, there's a lot of support for this."

According to Won Pat, Duenas' calculations are off: Bill 491 would raise a little under $90,000, not $120,000, which couldn't solely support DPW's needs to purchase new busses at a price tag of $220,000 each or the cost for annual maintenance at over $1,000,000. Won Pat reminds Duenas that he co-sponsored Public Law 31-229, which supports the bus fleet through tax credits, multi-year procurement, or long term lease of up to 50 new school busses and 13 special education busses.

She adds there are other remedies for the island's aging bus fleet in the works as well. Just last week Department of the Interiors' Tony Babauta visited the DPW facility to gauge how bad the bus situation really is and possibly identify other sources of funding.

In the meantime, Duenas asks the community to get involved and speak up in favor of Bill 491.  "I just ask that if the public feels the way I do to speak out and maybe call the speaker calls the senator's office and say this is the right thing to do. We should go into session on the 7th, we should waive the public hearing and we should make sure we prioritize our children," he said.

A public hearing for bill491 has yet to be scheduled.